


Friendships--Old and New

by TVgirll1971



Series: Innermost Thoughts [6]
Category: Whiskey Cavalier (TV)
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-16 22:20:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29707395
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TVgirll1971/pseuds/TVgirll1971
Summary: Tracks the evolution of Will's relationships with Ray and with Frankie.
Relationships: Will Chase/Frankie Trowbridge
Series: Innermost Thoughts [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2182494
Kudos: 2





	Friendships--Old and New

As he sat there watching Ray sleep, he wondered why he was there. The man betrayed him. He lied to his face for 7 months. Seven months! For seven months he’d just walk around with that stupid smile on his face “Hey, we should go hang out at the new bar..” Will fumed just thinking about it. Ray knew how upset he was about losing Gigi. All that hanging out they did—Will thought it was to make him feel better. No, it wasn’t. It was to make Ray feel less guilty. He couldn’t understand how one of his closest friends—one of his oldest friends!-- could just do that to him. Not only that—how the hell could he hide it so long? Walking around telling Will he was at a girl’s house knowing full well it was the girl who broke Will’s heart. He could barely even look at Ray so, again, why the hell was he here? Suddenly, a nurse came in to check Ray’s vitals and Will remembered why. He was here *because* Ray was one of his oldest friends and if, he was going to die, he shouldn’t do it alone. 

While fuming about Ray, Will also found himself thinking about that woman—the CIA agent, Frankie Trowbridge. The woman was typical CIA—the rights of the individual don’t matter; only the mission. They just steamroll over everything to achieve their goal. This particular CIA agent seemed particularly cold and heartless, not to mention unstable. Yet, he remembered the look in her eyes when he had to take the bullet out—she was terrified. For the first time since they met, he saw honest, real emotion in her eyes. Then she laughed at his silly joke about giving her a cute scar and he thought maybe he was wrong about her. Maybe she wasn’t as heartless as he thought. Oh, well, it doesn’t matter.. He’ll never see her again. And if Ray recovers (which he sincerely hoped he would), Will wouldn’t have to see him again either. 

He wound up being wrong on both counts since, not long after, Will was tasked to lead a covert team with Frankie. Will wasn’t sure at first. She didn’t seem the type to play well with others, but maybe he was wrong. He knew a thing or two about team dynamics and he was confident he could make this work. Meanwhile, Director Casey announced that he would not be interacting with the team. Instead a liaison would be assigned who would provide support. Well, that liaison just happened to be his “old friend” Ray. Will couldn’t believe it. He’d already committed himself to never seeing Ray again and now he was attached to his team? Well, he didn’t care what Director Casey said, he didn’t *want* Ray’s help. Of course, Ray being Ray, he just ignores everything. He had *no* reason coming to Prague with the team for their first mission. Will told him he could easily lend support from New York. Did Ray listen? No. Well, if he wanted to waste his time Prague, that was his business. 

Things with Frankie weren’t going very well either. They seemed okay on the first mission. He and Frankie worked well together and she even gave him a nice pep talk after he’d been deceived by Karen. Then came an impromptu training exercise where she was willing to sacrifice Standish’s life to complete the mission. Will began to suspect that his initial thought was correct—this woman was heartless. That perception didn’t change in Rome. The woman was stubborn, reckless, and had no business being on a team let alone leading one. Not to mention the fact that she used to be an assassin, That spoke to a total lack of moral character! He didn’t think he could work with her at all. That is until they found out about the bomb. Not only did they work together to defeat Dimitri, but they had to work together to defuse the bomb—with Will acting as Frankie’s eyes since she could reach the wires but not see them. Just as in France, Will saw the vulnerability in Frankie’s eyes. There was a softness and kindness that he hadn’t seen before. Suddenly, he was intrigued by her. 

He became even more intrigued during the mission at the chateau in southern France. They’d shared a kiss which, while amazing, was really only used as a distraction. The real amazing part was when Frankie told Will a little about her past. After weeks of him trying (and failing) to get to know her better, she just tells him about cycling in Europe when she was younger. He hadn’t even asked her anything. She just came out with it! That warm smile on her face—no this woman wasn’t heartless at all and he could see himself falling in love with her. Unfortunately, the mission got in the way when Frankie seduced a guard to gain intel. It was a solid intelligence move—not one that Will approved of but it was accepted. Unfortunately, the pain of Gigi and Ray was still raw and he overreacted. Later, Frankie tried to make amends by giving him a beer at the Dead Drop. Will appreciated the gesture but was wary of getting his heart broken again. That’s why he was so happy to meet Emma. She was beautiful, smart, warm, and, most importantly, he felt safe with her. He understood Emma and knew where he stood with her, Frankie though was unpredictable. That’s not to say he wouldn’t have tried things with Frankie—he would’ve liked to. But she made it perfectly clear their job was too important and that was that. But he was ready to give his heart to someone again. That’s why he was so happy when Emma showed up at the Dead Drop. After all this time, he was ready be in a nice, uncomplicated relationship.

As he navigated his relationship with Frankie, he also had to deal with his relationship with Ray. Their friendship was over. All Will wanted was a professional relationship. But could Ray accept that? Of course not. He’d apologize for what he did as if that actually made a difference! Then for months, he constantly made lame jokes and basically acted as if what happened between them hadn’t happened. It didn’t help that the rest of the team was starting to like him. Susan even convinced him to let Ray come to the Hive on missions since he was supposed to be support liaison. The team was starting to see that Ray was this nice, funny, outgoing guy. Which he was, but so what?

Then came the mission to Bulgaria where they discovered that the drug trafficking ring was selling babies on the black market. Since the team was not sanctioned to go after the baby traffickers, Ray let them go an off the books mission. Will knew there wasn’t an ulterior motive—Ray did it because it was the right thing to do. However, the mission coincided with Emma’s visit to the US and Will became unsettled when he learned Ray was keeping Emma company at the bar. After all, he’d seen that movie before and knew how it ended. Meanwhile, his relationship with Frankie had grown friendly enough that she had no trouble teasing him about Ray and Emma. Finally, she assured him that he didn’t have anything to worry about because Emma was not Gigi. 

Later came the Spain mission. For the umpteenth time, Ray suggested that Will and he go out for drinks. Will couldn’t understand why Ray kept asking. It’d been over six months, why did he need to keep telling Ray over and over again that he wanted nothing to do with him? Then Ray does this “favor” of getting Emma put on the mission. Which, on hand, he didn’t think Ray should’ve done, but on the other hand, was a nice gesture. Unfortunately, Emma didn’t seem to think so. Neither did Frankie and Susan actually. But somehow it was all *his* fault, because no one’s ever mad at Ray. Again, Frankie was the one who gave him good advice about Emma. Later, as they hid out in that cabin, he marveled at how much Frankie had changed. Sitting there drinking with him, laughing, wearing fuzzy slippers—she was nowhere near the cold fish he thought when they met. He felt so comfortable with her, which made him feel instantly guilty when Emma showed up. Frankie told him he had nothing to feel guilty about—nothing happened. But Will knew what he was feeling wasn’t nothing and he felt the need to tell Emma about their drinking together. 

Speaking of drinking, at the end of that mission, Will did something he’d never done before—he included Ray in the after mission toast. He didn’t intend to. For over half a year, he’d only poured drinks for the team proper, never Ray. Yet, somehow, there he was with drinks for the team, Emma, and Ray. He didn’t know why. Maybe he just got confused because he made one for Emma? As he had countless times before, Ray stood up to leave because he wasn’t part of the toasts. Will told him to stay. Again, he didn’t know why. Maybe he didn’t want to disturb the moment? Maybe it’s because he’d already poured the drink? He just didn’t see a need for Ray to leave. 

Though he wouldn’t admit it, Will was starting to soften towards Ray. Not long after, he was reminded of the reason he was close to Ray to begin with. He knew Ray believed their friendship was based on them hanging out together. And yes, that was fun but for Will the foundation of their friendship wasn’t them hanging out together. It was the fact that Ray was Will’s first partner when Will returned to the FBI after his stint in the Marines. Yes, Will may have had higher marks in Quantico and he may have been better skilled in the field, but Ray had a few years more experience. Seeing Ray attack Ollerman like that, it brought back memories of Brussels where Will totally lost it after a mission went bad. Then, it was Ray who talked him down and gave him perspective. Because of Brussels, and countless other missions, there was no doubt in Will’s mind that Ray, his old partner, would save Susan. 

At the same time, Frankie asked Will to trust her with his life. As with Ray, there was no doubt in Will’s mind that Frankie would come through and she did. She also came through after Emma died. Emma’s death filled Will with a rage he hadn’t felt since his brother died. Of course, he was a teenager then. Plus, Kevin died in combat, so there no target for his anger anyway. But he knew who was responsible for Emma’s death and he was going to make them pay, he didn’t care *what* he had to do. Torture, murder, he didn’t care. These were bad people anyway so who gives a crap what happens to them as long as Emma’s murderer pays for what he did? Luckily, he didn’t go too far and that was only because of Frankie. She stopped him from threatening to light a man on fire and she talked him down from murdering Griffith. If it wasn’t for Frankie, he would’ve gone down a path he couldn’t come back from.

It took about a month for Will to return to work after Emma’s death. His heart just wasn’t in it and he needed some time to get his head straight. It’s not that he loved Emma—their relationship was too new for that. But he knew the potential was there—he could have seen himself falling and that’s what he wanted. Immediately after Emma’s death, the only thing that fueled him was anger and vengeance. Nothing else matter. However, by the time they were assigned that mission to the Bucharest Technical Institute, he was beginning to feel like his hopeful self again.

Meanwhile, after close to a year, Will began feeling comfortable around Ray again. He was comfortable enough to lightheartedly agree with Ray’s niece that she should put lipstick on her uncle, he was comfortable enough let Ray go in the field with them to Bucharest, and he didn’t hesitate to show Ray that picture he’d acquired of a young Frankie in corn-rows. He was even comfortable knowing that Ray and Susan were running around. It wasn’t hard to figure out—for seasoned spies his two friends weren’t exactly subtle. Will caught looks between the two and there are only so many times Ray can arrive or leave shortly after Susan before it stops being a coincidence. But he didn’t care because Ray was a nice guy and Susan deserved to be happy.

As comfortable as he was becoming around Ray, Frankie was apparently becoming more comfortable around him. When the year started, he thought she was as cold as ice. He never would’ve expected her to be at his place, laughing and eating Chinese takeout and yet there she was.

Soon, things would come to a head in both relationships. Though they had successfully foiled Ollerman’s latest plan, in order for the team to track him, some of the lethal nanoparticles Ollerman injected into Ray would have to be activated. Despite having developed a countermeasure, Jai warned that it might not work and Ray could die. Though Will was unwilling to take the risk, Ray was adamant that it had to be done. Faced with truly never seeing Ray again, Will struggled to put into words what he’d been feeling the past several months but was unwilling to admit. “We’re good?” Ray said. Yes, that was it. Their relationship would never go back to what it was before but he was finally ready to put the past behind and move forward.

Will stood there on the street in Prague enjoying the view. He loved this view. Suddenly, he saw Frankie right there in front of him, almost as if he wished her into existence. She looked so beautiful, so warm and open. He leaned forward to kiss her, expecting her to shirk away. But she didn’t. She just stood there as if she wanted him to kiss her. As he leaned forward, he realized his relationship with Frankie wouldn’t be the same.


End file.
